It’s Presidential Inauguration time in America again. Rather than tax an already over saturated media market filled with D.C. Inaugural stories, I thought I’d revisit a memory from another Inauguration Day right smack in the middle of the Reagan Revolution — an incident which, if it happened today, would bring Washington D.C. to a screeching halt and set the Twitter world on fire.
During Thomas Jefferson’s time in the White House, the President began the practice of inviting guests back to the White House for an informal party. In 1829, things got a little crazy when Andrew Jackson invited Inaugural guests back to the White House where they proceeded to get a little crazy. Thousands pushed their way into the Executive Mansion to get a glimpse of Old Hickory in the flesh, many climbing over priceless furniture in the process. Eight years later in 1837, as Jackson prepared to leave the White House, The General again opened the White House and invited the public in to help him eat a 1,400 pound block of cheese he had been given as a gift years before, Although the White House smelled like cheese for the entire first year of the Van Buren administration, unfettered access to the White House continued for generations to come.
White House security slowly ramped up during the Civil War and after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln but for the most part, average citizens were permitted to walk the grounds of “The People’s House” right up to World War I. President Harding reopened the White House gates after the war, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt closed the grounds for good after Pearl Harbor. Since then, every uninvited White House intrusion has been well documented and meticulously chronicled in the memory of the American people. That is, every invasion except the January 20, 1985 episode involving a Denver Colorado meter reader named Robert Allen Latta.
Although Latta held a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, he worked as a water meter reader for the City of Denver, Up until Reagan’s second Inauguration, Latta’s claim to fame was holding the Mile High City meter-reading record of 600 readings in a single day. Time magazine once quoted his supervisor as saying “He is a phenomenon of accuracy and speed.”
Mr. Latta was vacationing in Washington D.C. on January 20, 1985, the day that Ronald Reagan was sworn in for his second term as President. The customary public parade down Pennsylvania Avenue was called off after officials were warned the night before that the expected subzero weather conditions would expose thousands of marchers and spectators to serious risks of frostbite and injury. The weather outside was harsh, with daytime temperatures of 7 degrees and wind chills of −25 degrees and 45-year-old Latta was looking for a warm distraction. Standing outside of the White House, Latta watched as hordes of people buzzed in and out of the front portico. Looking around at the new-fallen snow, tasting the bitter winds and shivering in the record cold temperatures, Robert Latta thought “It surely must be warm in there,” so he shrugged his shoulders and thought, “why not?”
Taking quick advantage of the Inaugural hubbub, Latta tagged behind the 33-member Marine Corps Orchestra and marched right past White House security into the Executive Mansion. He wasn’t wearing a uniform, and he wasn’t carrying an instrument, but he was toting his overnight bag. If they noticed him at all, security probably pegged him to be with the band. Once inside, Latta wandered aimlessly around the Executive Residence for 14 minutes without detection. He was eventually discovered loitering around the downstairs parlor known as the Blue Room. There, Secret Service agents noticed that the visitor was not in uniform and was without an instrument, and detained him.
Embarrassed Secret Service agents brought in dogs to search for explosives as they sheepishly interrogated Latta outside the White House. After being questioned, Latta was turned over to District of Columbia police who booked him on a misdemeanor count of unlawful entry. Latta told police, “I thought if I wasn’t supposed to be there, somebody would stop me,” and that “I just wanted to see the ceremony…I’m kind of patriotic.” Latta, who by all accounts was boringly normal, was ordered to undergo a series of psychiatric tests and was committed to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. This was not good news for Mr. Latta.
St. Elizabeth’s, opened as the Government Hospital for the Insane in 1855, became the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the U.S. Other notorious patients of St. Elizabeth’s include Andrew Jackson’s would-be assassin Richard Lawrence, John Hinckley, Jr., who shot Ronald Reagan, and the assassin of James Garfield, Charles J. Guiteau (housed at St. E’s until his execution).
According to court-appointed psychiatrist Dr. Norman L. Wilson, Latta had himself voluntarily committed after hearing voices in his head saying “you blew it.” According to documents filed in D.C. Superior Court, Wilson discovered that Latta had voluntarily committed himself to the psychiatric ward of another hospital in June 1984. Wilson recommended further psychiatric study and on January 21 ordered Latta to undergo mental evaluation, but that order was not received by city psychiatrists until three days later, several hours after he had posted $1,000 bail and skedaddled back to his Rocky Mountain home.
Latta told reporters that the intrusion was “a mistake” but also “the high point of being in Washington” and that “I just wanted to see how far I could get.” The unlawful entry carried a maximum penalty of six months in jail, but because it was only a misdemeanor, D.C. prosecutors could not extradite him from Colorado if he did not return voluntarily. Latta was arrested May 7, 1985, after he failed to show up for a court appearance in D.C. but was released on personal recognizance after Magistrate Judge Donald E. Abram of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado set a hearing on whether he should be returned to D.C. to face charges. In the end, according to D.C. district court case 1985 CMD 000851: United States Vs. LATTA, ROBERT A, Bob Latta was sentenced to 30 days (suspended) followed by one year supervised probation.
From there, the trail of the most famous meter reader in the world went cold. For a short time, Latta became popular fodder for late night comedy shows. He was even portrayed by Rich Hall on an episode of Saturday Night Live. However, the current status of Robert Allen Latta is unknown. In March of 2015, 30 years after the unauthorized White House walkabout, cyber sleuths once again took to the net when a 77-year-old man named Robert Allen Latta died in Brooksville, Alabama. However, the connection was never made, there was a two year difference in ages and the family wasn’t talking. Conversely, if alive, Latta would be 77 years old and most likely living a life of quiet retirement either in his home state of Colorado or perhaps the retirement mecca of Florida. One thing is for sure, Latta ain’t in Washington D.C.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest book is “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
